this is the story of our life at "Rosevale on the Palouse Prairie" in eastern Washington State, and my love affair with all things fiber/fabric.
'BeanQueen' you might ask, well in my previous life I was the curater of the Phaseolus Germplasm Collection (beans native to the western hemisphere) in the United States. My lovely #2 sister gifted me with my 'nom autre'.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

today is Tuesday !

And it is autumn on the Palouse. One never knows what the day will bring. We have been getting rain, but it still is not cooled off enough for most of the plants to realize they need to "go to sleep".This makes it difficult to prepare them for winter survival.I re-purposed 2 pallets that our flooring was delivered on into a potential raised bed for strawberries today. I removed all the cross boards but the end ones on both sides of one pallet & placed it where I want the bed to be. I then removed the cross boards, but ends, from one side of the other pallet. I removed every other board, but ends, from the other side and stacked it sectioning side up on the first pallet. In spring I will get some top soil, sand & potting soil to mix and put into the pallets. First I will "seal" all the openings on the edges of pallets by stapling ground cloth over them. I plan to order some new strawberry plants instead of using runners from my old ones. I hope to get a variety that is a bit more tasty and will survive winters here, too. The one we have now survives OK, but could use some more flavor.It looks so good that I plan to see if I can re-purpose some more pallets into garden beds. Our regular beds are shaded so much by the ridiculous trees that our former neighbors insisted on planting - the roots invade the garden beds, too - far too close together and entirely inappropriate for trees along someone elses property line. If I can make some pallet beds I can have them in an area with a bit more sun. I do have to leave some room for my greenhouse, though. I'm saving up to get one of those really nice wood & polycarbonate houses.I've completed 2 pair of Christmas socks for grands, one pair for msH & am working on the second pair for her. I have a pair of felted slippers in mind for the other grand and a pair of socks for the DD. I have not heard from the DS & family yet so not sure what is going to do for them.